Unlucky

Today, while talking to my shrink (pardon me, my Psychologist), I found myself remembering a friend from my college years. His name was George Thompson (or was it Thomson? I’ve read too many “Adventures of Tintin”; my mind is screwed up.). Anyway, George was a psychology student, and was interested in parapsychology (far too interested by my reckoning).

At some point, he and I were talking about chance vs. luck, and I told him that I am a very unlucky person. He asked me what I meant, and I told him that I can’t win when dealing with games of chance. I told him that I’m unluckiest with dice and such other devices. He was fascinated. He asked me to spend an hour with him so he could study my unlucky tendencies clinically. I didn’t really see any harm, so I said yes.

We did it on a different day. He had a table set up in his apartment, and some dice; also, he had a pen and several sheets of paper. He asked me to first roll the dice without thinking of anything in particular. I rolled the dice—George writing down the numbers in neat little rows—for half an hour. After that, he had me spend twenty minutes trying to get specific numbers. Again he wrote down the numbers. Finally he had me spend the last ten minutes trying to get only doubles, while writing them down neatly. After that he thanked me and I left.

I really wasn’t expecting anything back, especially not what I received.

When I next saw him, he was very excited. He said that I’d been right. He had put together graphic charts that he said proved my unlucky tendency. The chart from the first part showed nothing fantastic; he compared them to ones he’d found in library books. The surprises were the second and third charts. Both of them, he said, were clear cases evidencing my tendency towards bad luck. He was virtually jumping up and down; I’d never seen him so happy about anything, let alone something as unhappy as this. Anyway, I accepted his word—I’d already guessed I was unlucky.

That wasn’t the end, though. He told me later that he’d written a paper about me ( !!! ) for one of his classes, and had received an “A-minus” for it. It was the first “A” he’d received from that teacher since he’d started taking the class (parapsychology)! The instructor told him that the only reason he’d been given a “minus” was because a proper study required evidence from several different times, thus giving a more thorough evidentiary chain.

I wasn’t really all that happy about it. He hadn’t told me he was planning to submit my little problem to his class. I didn’t get too upset about that though; he’d changed my name to “John Doe”, to protect my privacy. I was a little upset about the answer it gave me—my being unlucky and everything—but I had figured that out myself already, so I just let it pass.

I actually haven’t seen or heard from George in many years; he left the area after he graduated. I wonder what he’s doing now? Hmmm…

New Drugs, Part 1

I received a letter today from the director of a medical support organization that provides information and more to people with a particular disease. The disease is called Von Hippel-Lindau Disease, or VHL. This person was advocating a search for a drug that would (she hoped) help prevent the inception of the disease in children within 10 years. This was my response:

Hello,

I'm glad your son is doing well. I'm disturbed, however, by your confidence in a new drug.

My own experience with new drugs has been terrible. The FDA releases new drugs in much less time than it did in the past, and as a result, all kinds of side effects have occured.

I've been taking an over-the-counter (OTC) pain medication (ketoprofin, related to ibuprofin) for migraines for the last 12 years that was released after only 6 years of testing. Now this drug has been taken off the shelves all over the world. It causes kidney damage.

If more time had been available for study before release, this problem would have been found, and I wouldn't be worrying about my kidneys. Personally, I hope for DNA research to lead to the ability to alter DNA--like turning off a switch--and stop genetic diseases and disorders from occurring. I'm certain that's farther than new drugs, but I'd rather not experience any new problems with my health due to a new drug.

Thanks for listening.